here today, gone tomorrow . . .

in no time, it seems, i am once more making lists, tying up loose ends, and frantically gathering stuff into piles to prepare for another long trip. tomorrow is my packing day, because i’ll be too busy on monday to do it. tuesday is travel day, on a flight so early that i’ll be in the furthest reaches of the pacific northwest in time for morning coffee (shudder).

i’m heading off to camp, where i’ll be involved in all sorts of shenanigans for almost a week. then i’m dashing to dallas, where i’ll teach at the shabby sheep and the DFW fiber fest and—yes there’s more—david is meeting me on the last day and we’re driving together to austin to visit the texas hansons, then teach at hill country weavers (who have filled classes like nobody’s business; we added more and still, just a few spots left!)

but even before that, i’m meeting up with our very good friend karolyn and the dynamic duo, janel and cookie to knock about seattle for a couple days. i’m sure sushi will be involved, even if cookie and i have to sneak out in the middle of the night to eat it.

i just know that we’re going to get a bunch of emails asking about these adorable and very well made projects bags by michele at 3 bags full. click here to find more like them, but maybe not exactly like them. you can also put in a request and michele will do her best to make your wish come true.

this one is the new larger sweater project bag which is roomy enough for a bunch of yarn and sweater pieces too. i love it and since i’ve got several sweaters on the needles at the moment, it comes in very handy for transporting at least one of them.

and there is knitting today too—WHAT? yes, it’s true; i have swatched almost all i’m going to before i leave (well, there might be one more if a certain skein of yarn arrives in time) and have moved on to the production stage with several projects.

remember those adorable whitfield shorties i knit for our nephews for christmas? it turned out that chris’s wonderful superwash worsted was not going to work out, but never fear, good yarn and great yarnies are always at the rescue.

we juggled the lineup a bit and our dear friend kim from the woolen rabbit stepped in to provide an bundle of her new superwash worsted, frolic for the project in colorway jungle book, a mix of cheerful green, turquoise, and gold.

and we’re using one of chris’s great yarns, fourth of july, for the pullover version of david’s cable and rib christmas sweater (which we were originally going to knit in kim’s yarn).

she dyed up this gorgeous deep brown colorway, which barb took home the other night to knit the sample, as a special help to me. we will bring you updates on her work as we can. you know barb though; she’ll probably have it all done before we can take progress photos, haha.

the pattern will have a cardigan option included and since i started some sleeves for the pullover a while back in the original yarn yarn, i decided to move ahead with that this week as a cardigan. so i’m now happily knitting away in a gorgeous batch of woolen rabbit grace, colorway scottish heather.

that way, i’ll have one of each. the nice thing about these yarns is that gauge wise, they are fairly interchangeable; there are lots of options for substituting in this pattern. and did i mention it will be sized for both men and women, too? yeah, we like flexibility.

and, i’m happy to report also, that i have been getting reacquainted with wasp and rose and am enjoying every minute of it

we’ve had several nice, long evenings of good work together at the end of this week; i couldn’t be more at peace with it. i still need to finalize the hem and work up one last chart, but it’s moving along again, for sure.

the rows though, are getting mighty long; i need to dig up a longer needle in that size (which is tiny). i think i have one, i just have to locate it. and if i don’t, i need to add it to the list of stuff to pick up while i’m visiting yarn shops next week.

another reason it looks like i’m just now settling into some good, steady knitting for the week, is that i have a secret project on the go that i’ve been putting a lot of time into.

of course i can’t show you much of the piece, but i want to share the yarn, which is another wonderful fiber blend from kollage. here we have 1/2 N 1/2, a fingering weight wool/milk blend in colorway burlywood. i’m absolutely smitten with it as an option for summer knits; it’s light and pleasant to knit with and makes a beautiful next-to-the-skin fabric.

to end, how about an update on david’s knitted wrap project?

i find his work ethic so impressive—he picks it up every night while we watch TV and knits for at least a half hour, if not longer. and boy, does consistency ever pay off—you should see it up close. from hem to needle, it’s the map of a journey that just gets better and better, for sure. i will be SO very honored to wear it (i’m wearing the scarf he made me right now; it’s cold here again).

right now, i would say that the piece is about 40 inches long (ish). he’s probably more than halfway there . . .

ok, it’s a beautiful day here and i think i’ll head out for a walk. i might take a nap first; i could use it. whatever . . . i’ll try to be back one more time on monday before i take off and for sure i’ll be back with plugs from the road. maybe we’ll try for very short daily posts this next few weeks . . . if i can keep my chatter trimmed down, i dunno.

I’m so looking forward to your Whitfield Shorties (my little guy in almost 3), will make such a great sweater/jacket for our weather here in DFW….and yep, looking forward to meeting you in one of your classes

Wow – David is making good progress! Good for him; still not motivating my BF to knit…. not even to learn to make a blanket for his kitty to snuggle up in – he gets cold here in the winter time…. maybe some day.

I hope you have good travels and teaching!

It’s cold here in MD too – snow in the forecast tomorrow (Sunday) – it waits until March 27 to give us some snow….. well, we did have that one snow in Feb.

I just love Michele’s bags! You started me off down the extremely slippery slope of bag acquisition last summer, and I now have (ahem!) three! I rather like the yarn you’re using on your secret project too. Oh dear – you are leading me astray!! Safe travels.

As always, a delight to read. BUT the bags, I have wanted to know about the bags, I love them. If I pass my bags on to someone, (with yarn) that would be a great example of re-using (and gifting), then, I would need more bags….and stash……………..the power of justification is amazing! Good Trip Wishes to you!

So many good projects on the go! I hope all your travels go well, and that there is plenty of coffee waiting for you when you arrive at the end of your early-morning flight (goodness knows I’d need a vat!). (Also? Just finished Leaving – hooray!!)